Thought I would post this for people who like road stories.
10 or so years ago (guessing) I used to travel and stake a top player from the Midwest. We would go to tournaments in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Michigan, Kansas, etc.
I don't know how to tell you that this guy plays based on todays top players, but back then we did really well on the road.
The funny thing about going to tournaments was that he always went for next to nothing in all the Calcutta's and always finished in the top 4, but never won one. Back then (texas express tour) Steve Mccanich, Javier Franco, etc. were the top players on this set of tournaments and of course we would run into them a lot. Anyway, for everyone in the room's money except mine these guys were supposed to beat my guy but time after time he would pull out wins. His playing style was freewheeling and when you thought he was getting lucky getting shape he wasn't, he was getting there on purpose.
So we go to Missouri to a tournament there that I think John Mcchessney was putting on. Sign up and there are all the usual suspects. I decided to play in this one and donate (went like 2-3 or 2-2) The calcutta starts and this is like the 5th stop of the year so everyone knows this guy and he ends up going for $40. The draw comes up and he gets a nobody the first round and then in the second round he draws Steve. Steve is really pissed off because he keeps losing to this guy that he will gamble with but they have to play in the tournament. Steve loses and my guy gets all the way to the finals of the winners bracket, something he had done before but this was a much bigger field. He is playing Javier and Javier is running out from everywhere (9 ball on bartables) Guy loses and has to play who Steve again and he beats Steve again. While I like Steve and think he is a great player, I don't think he ever got over losing to this guy time and time again. Back to the tournament. It's us against Javier again and once again Javier plays lights out pool and wins the tournament. We made $2300 for him getting second with calcutta and a few small $50 sweat bets.
A lot of people on here throw around huge $$$$ amounts for gambling or tournaments but we never made this much before and were happy in an unreal way. We had a pretty good deal and were friends, it was 50/50 and I covered expenses. Expenses for him was a 2litre of pepsi a loaf of bread and bologna. I always liked to eat out at nice places and he was right when he told me that it hurt our bottom line, but the memories I have.
We kept going from tournament to tournament and he would consistently cash very high and he would also gamble (I remember winning enough in Bowling Green to buy a really nice Swift case of someone that was hanging around) We went to Bowling Green several times as it was a nice place, good people, and action. Played some guy I think named Hal from Missouri one pocket and made a nice little score.
I know there is not a good flow to this but I was just writing down things as they came to me.
One of the things I am trying to say here is that the players today are much much better than in the past. We had an open invitation for anyone to come through and play on his table and it was people like Steve, Scott Kitto, Jamie Goodwin, Gary Lutman, Artie Clemens, etc. and anyone we didn't know could get played. No way you could do that now. The smaller tours have 10 guys who could win it and 40 that play as good or better than you do.
That is all I guess.
10 or so years ago (guessing) I used to travel and stake a top player from the Midwest. We would go to tournaments in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Michigan, Kansas, etc.
I don't know how to tell you that this guy plays based on todays top players, but back then we did really well on the road.
The funny thing about going to tournaments was that he always went for next to nothing in all the Calcutta's and always finished in the top 4, but never won one. Back then (texas express tour) Steve Mccanich, Javier Franco, etc. were the top players on this set of tournaments and of course we would run into them a lot. Anyway, for everyone in the room's money except mine these guys were supposed to beat my guy but time after time he would pull out wins. His playing style was freewheeling and when you thought he was getting lucky getting shape he wasn't, he was getting there on purpose.
So we go to Missouri to a tournament there that I think John Mcchessney was putting on. Sign up and there are all the usual suspects. I decided to play in this one and donate (went like 2-3 or 2-2) The calcutta starts and this is like the 5th stop of the year so everyone knows this guy and he ends up going for $40. The draw comes up and he gets a nobody the first round and then in the second round he draws Steve. Steve is really pissed off because he keeps losing to this guy that he will gamble with but they have to play in the tournament. Steve loses and my guy gets all the way to the finals of the winners bracket, something he had done before but this was a much bigger field. He is playing Javier and Javier is running out from everywhere (9 ball on bartables) Guy loses and has to play who Steve again and he beats Steve again. While I like Steve and think he is a great player, I don't think he ever got over losing to this guy time and time again. Back to the tournament. It's us against Javier again and once again Javier plays lights out pool and wins the tournament. We made $2300 for him getting second with calcutta and a few small $50 sweat bets.
A lot of people on here throw around huge $$$$ amounts for gambling or tournaments but we never made this much before and were happy in an unreal way. We had a pretty good deal and were friends, it was 50/50 and I covered expenses. Expenses for him was a 2litre of pepsi a loaf of bread and bologna. I always liked to eat out at nice places and he was right when he told me that it hurt our bottom line, but the memories I have.
We kept going from tournament to tournament and he would consistently cash very high and he would also gamble (I remember winning enough in Bowling Green to buy a really nice Swift case of someone that was hanging around) We went to Bowling Green several times as it was a nice place, good people, and action. Played some guy I think named Hal from Missouri one pocket and made a nice little score.
I know there is not a good flow to this but I was just writing down things as they came to me.
One of the things I am trying to say here is that the players today are much much better than in the past. We had an open invitation for anyone to come through and play on his table and it was people like Steve, Scott Kitto, Jamie Goodwin, Gary Lutman, Artie Clemens, etc. and anyone we didn't know could get played. No way you could do that now. The smaller tours have 10 guys who could win it and 40 that play as good or better than you do.
That is all I guess.